The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan dies aged 65

The songwriter and former frontman of The Pogues had been receiving treatment in St Vincents Hospital in Dublin for several months for an infection.

He was discharged from hospital on November 22 and returned home to spend quality time with his wife, Victoria Mary Clarke.

His wife wrote on her Instagram on Thursday morning;

"I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it.

"Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese.

"I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures.

"There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music.

"You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much.

"You meant the world to me.”

MacGowan died “peacefully” with his family by his side in the early hours of this morning, The Pogues told fans in a social media statement on behalf of his family.

The band asked for the family's privacy to be respected “at this very sad time”.

“A statement on behalf of Shane MacGowan’s wife Victoria Mary Clarke, his sister Siobhan and father, Maurice.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of Shane MacGowan. Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side.

“Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family. He is survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan and his father, Maurice, family and a large circle of friends.

“Further details will be announced shortly but the family ask for privacy at this very sad time.”

Writer Victoria had previously been updating fans with her husband's condition over the past few months and has expressed her thanks to staff who had been taking care of him.

“Shane got out of the hospital! We are deeply and eternally grateful to all of the doctors and nurses and staff at St Vincent's. It's the best,” she wrote last week.

In the past few weeks, Bono and The Edge, Moya Brennan, Damien Dempsey, Daniel O’Donnell, Imelda May, Mundy and Bobby Gillespie all visited the hospital to see the iconic Fairytale of New York singer.

“He probably has had more visitors since he’s been in hospital than he would have at home,” Victoria had said.

Clarke, who married MacGowan in 2018, recently spoke about activities the couple used to enjoy which are no longer easy to accomplish.

“It means life has changed and it’s curtailed in lots of ways. Things you might have taken for granted — like going on holidays or even going to a movie or going anywhere — that becomes very difficult.

“It’s a two-way thing. I feel lucky to have found him. He has always inspired me. He is such a beautiful, bright, funny, intelligent, interesting person. I feel like I’m never going to get bored with him. There is always something that surprises me about Shane."

Victoria also spoke about how she feels ‘angels’ have helped her and Shane through the most difficult periods.

“It’s all about the energy. When you get into a stressful situation and people are sick around you, it’s natural that your energy is going to drop. But if you decide to tune into a higher energy, I think you can do it," she said.

“I know it sounds cheesy but I focus on gratitude and appreciation and love. We have met the most amazing angels in human form in hospital.

"Sometimes all it takes is a smile and then you smile at the next person you meet, you work up a higher vibration and you keep it going.”

Born in the UK and having lived his early years in Ealing, London, Richard Balls, author of ‘A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane MacGowan’, said McGowan was "the irresistible rebel soul of the Pogues... gave a voice to the second generation of Irish in Britain and instilled a pride in their heritage at a time of widespread discrimination."

The author added; "If one admirer captured the sheer scale of Shane’s achievement, it was Bruce Springsteen. Speaking on the Late Late Show in October 2020, he said: “I truly believe that 100 years from now, most of us will be forgotten, but I do believe that Shane’s music is going to be remembered and sung. It’s just deep in the nature of it.”